outside the world seems a violent place
by bluestoplights
Summary: Emma manages to get Killian out of the trap Hades has him in, but there are more than just physical wounds to deal with.
_**A/N: Prompt from a nice anon on tumblr, so I'll say the same thing I said on there. I'm warning you that this is going to be a hot mess, because I haven't seen the ep and I'm multitasking between watching the HRC/Bernie town hall and doing this. But I've seen gifs and the promo and that has to count for something, right? Also, this obviously isn't beta'd because…whoops. Hope you guys like it, anyway! Title from Various Storms and Saints, because I've had Florence on repeat a lot lately.**_

-/-

Getting him out, funnily enough, is the easy part.

(Except none of this is funny - not the fact that he almost fell into a green pit of fire and not the fact that his face is so bloody and cut up that he can't open one of his eyes and definitely not the boneless way he falls into her arms once she's precariously dragged them both to safety.)

They don't even wait until they're back with the group or out of the cave, they just both collapse once the width of the ground is wider than their shoes. Well, she collapses and Killian doesn't have much of a choice aside from almost falling right alongside her. They're a clash of limbs, still clinging tightly to one another

As if Killian isn't already injured _enough_.

They don't exchange words, at first, just hanging onto each other with a wild, frenzied sort of desperation. Emma tangles one hand in his hair and buries her face in the shoulder that seems less injured. The other arm is wrapped snug around him and the grip he has on her waist would hurt if not for the circumstances.

She lets out a few words, barely intelligible. It's something that could be 'I'm here' or 'You're safe' or 'I'm sorry' or 'I love you' but it loses itself in attempting to be all of the above. He seems to get it, though, by the way he lets out a heavy, satisfied sigh.

Emma just feels him, strong and sturdy and only his skin broken under her hands.

Killian is the first to really speak, nuzzled into her neck in a way that must be painful for his wounds and clinging to her as if his life depends on it. Which it does, and that thought is nearly enough to send her into a bout of hysterics.

"Of all the ways I've been tied up, I believe this has been one of the worst. Scratch that off for any of our future activities, will you?"

The sentence is so completely him, minimizing his own pain and trying to alleviate hers in the process, that she just wraps her arms even tighter around him. "Yeah? Leave it to you to joke about bondage when you look like you've literally been dragged from hell and back."

"I'm still me, love." His voice is scratchy and sore, either from disuse or from the torture. Emma doesn't want to know which one.

"Yeah," she says, almost in disbelief. "You are. And you're here."

Emma is choking back tears, gripping him tighter as if it'll stop him from being torn from her again.

"I wish I could see you properly," Killian teases and gestures to his eye with his handless arm, attempting for his usual charm as he leans back to face her. He's not far from tears himself, she can hear it in his voice as much as he's trying to mask it. "Gods, how I've missed the sight of that lovely face."

She laughs and it escalates to tears, shaking her head. Killian's hand comes up on instinct to brush it away, but his face falls once he sees the evidence of his touch on her face.

Killian stills his hand on her cheek. "I've got blood on your cheek."

Emma just puts his hand on hers, pressing it down on her face and not allowing him to move it. "Kind of gross, but after so long of not touching you I'm not going to complain about it."

She moves his hand to press a kiss to his knuckles, then, emphasizing the point even further.

Killian can only gape at her, as much as his injuries enable him to.

Emma releases him and moves back, though her desire to grab and keep and protect are protesting every inch she retracts from him, setting her hand gently on the uninjured side of his face. "I love you," she tells him, eyes intent on his. It's soft but it's almost angry, angry at herself, at Hades, at him for getting hurt in some warped way. "I love you," she repeats, replacing the fury with a different sort of fervor.

Killian nearly says the words back until she stops him by kissing him. Emma kisses him gently, mindful of his split lip and the way her nose brushes against raw skin. Killian doesn't seem to share her caution, his arms wrapping tight around her and responding with all he has.

"I love you," he manages to get out, rasping the words between kisses.

Emma responds once their lips part again. "I'm sorry."

"You have no reason to be. I'm the one who's," he murmurs, his mouth bumping against hers.  
"I'm so bloody sorry, the things I said."

"You _died._ "

"And I would have done it again."

"What and max it out beyond three?"

"I'd die a hundred times for you, love."

"And I would for you, too. I'd go to hell and back for you, Killian."

"You shouldn't have come here," stops the kissing entirely when the words leave Killian's mouth. Emma jerks back, her expression hardening.

His gaze falls to their laps, his expression attempting to give nothing away.

(And failing, because she knows him better than that by now.)

"If you think I wouldn't come for you, you're an idiot," she informs him shortly, tilting his chin up to meet her eyes again. "I'm here. We're getting you out. I don't give a damn what that'll take. I'm taking you with me."

Killian looks at her with a sort of awe that makes her heart pang, one eye conveying enough love and devotion for the both of them. He exhales, shakily, as she presses her forehead against his.

As if she'd leave him here like this, honestly.

"I missed you," he says instead of arguing, rasping the words out.

(Knowing him, that'll come later.)

Emma grins. "You have no idea how much I missed you."

They stay like that, for a minute, arms wrapped around each other and faces inches apart. A resounding thud is heard not far for the cave, though, and they jerk to face the noise. Hades must be pissed.

Emma groans. "Well, looks like we're going to have a hell of a time getting out."

Killian surges forward to kiss her again, passionately and fully as his hand cups her jaw. Emma enthusiastically responds, though she's incredibly confused by his reaction to her words.

When they break apart, she can only blink at him. "'What was-"

He grins as much as he can, and though he's bloody and bruised and wouldn't look out of place in a horror movie about now, she doesn't think she's seen a better sight. "Taking advantage of the time we have here, love. Now I suppose we're onto the next challenge?"

Emma sighs. "Yeah. Story of our lives."

His thumb skims her chin, shaking his head. "As long as that life is with you, I don't really give a damn."

And that's enough, for now.


End file.
